Khronos Announces OpenGL 4.1 Graphics API

The specification defined by a working group of the OpenGL Architecture Review Board at Khronos provides easier porting between mobile and desktop platforms.

API in two years.

Khronos launched v4.1 Monday, four and a half months after the release of v4.0, which provided performance, quality and flexibility enhancements, including tessellation and double precision shaders.

V4.1 provides easier porting between mobile and desktop platforms and the ability to query and load a binary for shader program objects to save re-compilation time, the organization said. Other new functionality includes:

The specification has been defined by a working group of the OpenGL Architecture Review Board at Khronos. Starting with v4.0, OpenGL includes tight integration with OpenCL, which is a Khronos framework for writing programs that execute across multiple platforms, such as CPU, graphics processor units and other processors.

The royalty-free specification in general is backwards compatible with older versions, making it possible for developers to use new features whenever they choose, the group says. The latest version was released during the SIGGRAPH conference in Los Angeles.

There's no doubt Google has made headway into businesses: Just 28 percent discourage or ban use of its productivity ­products, and 69 percent cite Google Apps' good or excellent ­mobility. But progress could still stall: 59 percent of nonusers ­distrust the security of Google's cloud. Its data privacy is an open question, and 37 percent worry about integration.

IT’s tried for years to simplify business intelligence efforts. Have visual analysis tools and Hadoop and NoSQL databases helped? Respondents to our 2014 InformationWeek Analytics, Business Intelligence, and Information Management Survey have a mixed outlook.